Marijuana and Cannabis News

Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette hates medical marijuana, and he thinks you're faking to get it.

​Michigan's attorney general has been busily trying to dismantle the state's medical marijuana law ever since it was passed by voters. Attorney General Bill Schuette announced legislative proposals on Wednesday targeting patients he claims are "exploiting" the law.

Schuette is not a fan of the law, passed by an overwhelming 63 percent of Michigan voters in 2008. In the sort of political gymnastics also favored by Republican attorneys general in other states (examples: Rob McKenna of Washington state and Tom Horne of Arizona), Schuette claims to be a "states' rights conservative" -- unless the "state's right" we're talking about is a medical marijuana law.

In that case, the rules are different, and in Schuette's mind, it's open season on medical marijuana patients, because, in a brief he filed back in June in support of the City of Livonia -- which is trying to ban medical marijuana use and sales -- the attorney general claims the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act is preempted by federal law.

Oddly, Michigan law somehow trumps federal law with Schuette if it's affirmative action we're talking about. Apparently different rules apply when it comes to protecting the privileges of white people (after all, he is a Republican), as pointed out by Christine at Blogging for Michigan.

Schuette, of course, claims his proposed crackdown on, and evisceration of, Michigan's medical marijuana law is to target "criminals who take advantage of the law."

The attorney general announced his nefarious plans at an 11 a.m. news conference Wednesday in Lansing.

"The law has been hijacked by pot profiteers who threaten public safety on the roads and in our communities," Schuette said, giving a free, handy demonstration of "how to ignore a majority of the voters."

Toke of the Town was unable to confirm a breaking rumor at press time that the group had decided to call itself the "Low-IQ All-Stars."

Schuette tried to paint marijuana as causing a vast number of highway traffic accidents in Michigan, citing some bogus statistics from (surprise!) the Michigan State Police (obviously protecting their job security, not the public) which supposedly show the "marijuana-related fatalities remain the most common drug-related automobile fatality, and that such fatalities are on the rise in Michigan."

"Driving with marijuana in your system is unsafe and jeopardizes the safety of our roadways," Schuette said. "If you take drugs, don't take the wheel."

Schuette also proposed "legislative reforms" (read: gutting the law) to give prosecutors and law enforcement "the tools they need to crack down on criminals who exploit the loopholes of the MMMA." (Translation: "Please make it easier for us to bust and harass legitimate patients and providers.")

The pot-crazed attorney general proposed the creation of new crimes to crack down on the medical marijuana certification system:

• Make it a felony for physicians to knowingly falsely certify a debilitating medical condition for patients seeking to use medical marijuana

• Make it a felony to knowingly submit false information on an application for a patient or caregiver card

• Make it a felony to knowingly alter a patient or caregiver card

• Make it a felony to knowingly possess another person's card or to transfer or allow a person to use another person's card

• Prohibit felons from being caregivers (currently only those convicted of drug-related felonies are prohibited); and

• Make it a misdemeanor for a patient or caregiver to fail to report a lost or stolen card within seven days.

In addition, Schuette proposed legislation to address what he claimed were "several loopholes" in the law, including measures to "strengthen the hand of law enforcement" (WTF?) "limit criminal access to medical marijuana," and empower local communities to regulate (translate: ban) medical marijuana facilities.

Schuette said he expects the bills to be introduced and considered by the Legislature this fall.

More links from around the web!

I think we should call our senators,reps let them know how you feel and then GO to help.repealtoday.org then find where you can sing the petition to repeal Marijuana prohibition in Michigan !!!!! We can get this on the 2012 ballot if all of you stand up for your rights and help safer Michigan FREE THE WEED !! we have Petitions locations all over the state.. help.repealtoday.orghttp://www.facebook.com/l.php?...

The very fact that Cannabis is prohibited is unconstitutional and also goes directly against both the Bill of Rights AND the Declaration of Independence.

Perhaps to get this country back to prominence we need to go back to the standards upon which it was founded, and people elected to positions of power need to actually uphold the oaths they take to get into office in the first place.

I am a believer in any thing that helps without the use of chemically made pills... I think that dispensaries definetly have a place but do need to be kept in check. Let dispensaries be available and open just do not let them grow any of the medicine they provide. Lets take taxes outon the transactions and help our state recover from financial burdens. Schuette needs to realize the people already voted and approved now they need safe access.

we should hire pi s to find out all the dirt on this guy no one is clean and get him to resign from his job he has no idea what hes talking about low iq for sure who does he think he is HITTLER or is it the fact he dont like people can make more money than him because he went to collage LMAO YUPPEE with no brain

I'm a patient and Marijuana helped me recover from extreme abdomen surgery and saved my life.Also, I am now off my stress, pain and blood pressure medication, because THC works better then liver killing pills.

The laws must change, because we were lied to about this natural, non-narcotic, non-addictive medicine.

The lawmakers that protest against Marijuana are usually uneducated; very low IQ, closet racist, religious freaks!!!!These ignorant lawmakers retard the progress of mankind!They believe what they want without research and science. Sad!!!

Legalize this harmless wonder plant that helps so many!!!!Or does Michigan want sick, good and honest people in jails? Probably

Bill Schutte forgot were getting close 2 an election.We can always replace an attorney general,afterall 63% of Michigan Voters cant be wrong.Hes a major piece of shit.The baby got his bottle 4 now but,I and many people in this state can make sure he dont get another term.PEOPLE OF MICHIGAN LETS TAKE OUR FREEDOM BACK GO TO THE POLLS and vote this job outsourcing,economy slowing,vote ignoring sleaze OUT OF OFFICE.This man is a hypocrite if your going to stop drug abuse completly make a law that states no drugs in michigan at all.In other words Wal-mart,Meijer,CVS should have to shut down their operations as well.They actually sell you dangerous narcotics over the counter.But of coarse like all cheap shot republicans.He wouldnt dare oppose a major corperation because hes really a coward hiding in a athority figures body,what a hypocrite.Come on SUPERMAN shut down all drugs,its your job remember,or do you not HAVE THE BALLS to TAKE ON MAJOR CORPERATIONS.Bill Schutte your days are numbered come election time,sure hope it was worth it LOSER.

how the hell can anyone claim that this country is a democracy. Our worthless government claim to bring democracy to other countries excusing its killing of thousands of innocent civilians. The USSA clearly is a dictatorship. King Bush followed by Emperor Obama now this tool bag is following the federal governments worthless example.

One of the more popular lines of bullshit from the prohibitionist set is that medical marijuana makes our roads more dangerous. Fortunately, the Department of Transportation keeps track of motor vehicle fatality rates and publishes the data online.

The fact is that motor vehicle fatality rates have been declining nationwide for many years and there is no statistically significant difference in the pace of decline between mmj states and non-mmj states. This can be confirmed here: http://www-fars.nhtsa.dot.gov/...

• Make it a felony for physicians to knowingly falsely certify a debilitating medical condition for patients seeking to use medical marijuana• Make it a felony to knowingly submit false information on an application for a patient or caregiver card• Make it a felony to knowingly alter a patient or caregiver card• Make it a felony to knowingly possess another person's card or to transfer or allow a person to use another person's cardAren't these already illegal?

- "The law has been hijacked by pot profiteers who threaten public safety on the roads and in our communities"

Well excuse me SIR, but...where is the explosion of car wrecks? Where are mass amounts of children strung out on dope? Where are the "profiteers" who, god forbid they actually profit from working, are breaking down buildings out of psychotic, drug-induced rage? NOWHERE!

Seriously folks, we need to demonstrate to all of these "officials" that marijuana is MUCH safer to drive on than alcohol (studies say pot impairment is about as equal as blood alcohol content of 0.07 [legal limit] to 0.10, but every person is different). That doesn't make it right to drive high...but...a garden snake won't kill you, but a cobra can!

"If you take drugs, don't take the wheel" he said. How long did it take for you to come up with that one, sir? Were you high and just was like, "I totally have to say that when I'm making my hate-speeches on pot next week, lemme write that down." Hah.

The question a person inevitably has to ask themselves is, "If given a choice, which would you prefer, no car and weed or no weed and a car?" I would posit that times of having no car but having weed will get you by better than having a car and no weed. I hate cars. Cars are the devil. The government wants you to drive, they just don't want you driving all fucked up. The whole attitude that having T.H.C. in your system is equivalent to being all fucked up is illogical when presented with the facts, one of them being that the cannabis 'high' lasts only a couple of hours. Kill your cars and while you're at it, kill your television too because the devil is mocking you.

My favorite part of these news bills he's talking about is the part that defines where dispensaries can be placed. Now Schutte has said that dispensaries are illegal (he says so in his issued opinion of the law). So how come we're spending tax dollars on such things?

Self-serving cowards hiding behind the cops they control, trying vainly to put the cat back into the bag. It's not going to happen - you can legislate all you want but the tide is already in your backyard bubba. Not a moment too soon either - looks to me like Oxycontin and Prozac are taking their toll on you.

Make your rules and then let the people speak your sorry as* out of office in the next cycle. In the meantime, you can count on wasting every single public dollar you spend trying to bury free access to this plant.

Your legacy in office will amount to a chuckle and a sad shake of the head that someone that we assumed had a law degree could behave so capriciously and counter to science, common sense and the will of the voters of Michigan. You're in the same category as the lawyers who defended slave owners in the last days of slavery. Clueless, greedy, arrogant, sociopath profiteers - just like you!

The premise you goatfuc*ers are using for this illegal bastardization of the rule of law has worn so thin even money-blinded political hacks like you can see through it.

"Driving with marijuana in your system is unsafe and jeopardizes the safety of our roadways," Schuette said. "If you take drugs, don't take the wheel."

So, if I smoke some herb, I have to wait at least 30 days or more to get behind the wheel?? Because that's how long it stays in the system, depending on the amount of fat you have. Is there a new "under-the-influence of marijuana" test that I don't know about, one that can determine when, exactly, I used the herb?? Unless that's true, I call bullshit on the above quoted comment. Prescription medication & alchohol--and don't forget texting!!--are all more of a menace on our roads.FFS, Michigan is drowing in debt; do we really need to waste time & resources on something the People of Michigan voted FOR??

Fuck. Just legalize it already and let go of all the bureaucratic bullshit.

If the laws weren't what they were before the MMJ movement, then we would not be having these confused officials meddling in our individual affairs. They think its their job to protect society from this "devil weed" and its time to change their minds for the better.

"The law has been hijacked by pot profiteers who threaten public safety on the roads and in our communities,"

Any laws can be hijacked by profiteers and threaten public safety. Look at the drug laws now. Corruption has allow corporations to rape the economy to support failed legal laws. Corporations are making money by building facilities and services to promote the drug war instead of looking into reforming and saving the economy. How are we to grow economically if we incarcerate the people that make our society. With all the people incarcerated world-wide, we hold a quarter of the community. That is insane when we're talking about global numbers. Most of the incarcerations in the US is from a non-addictive and non-lethal soft drug we call marijuana. What a waste of resources. If we are to help the country, we need to focus on what is KILLING the U.S. From the national stats, the legal options are killing everyone compared to marijuana. I'm not saying all drugs are good, we need to look at each and it's affect individually. You can see that alcohol, tobacco,and prescription drugs are killing people more than marijuana has ever and those numbers are growing. If marijuana was to be an issue, I would assume the deaths of marijuana growth would rise. That didn't happen and we don't see crosses on the side of the roads because of just marijuana.

The current laws are killing our country and allowing corrupt corporations to rape our economy with the legal loopholes also in their favor. That is just as wrong as accusing the activist of abusing loopholes.

Wake up America. Are we going to accept something we don't believe in and see as corrupt or are we going to make a change? We had to fight hard against racism and ignorance. We are doing it again. Racial equality, right to vote, right to own land, women's rights, gay rights and so on....... Not everything legal is right. Separate fact from fiction and grow a set to make a stance.

remember the olympic snowboarder who won the gold medal but then failed his drug test for cannabis? they tried to take his medal claiming it was a performance enhancing drug?

he admitted to smoking a bowl before his gold medal run, he got to keep the medal.

he was a race also, taking those gates the fasted of the day stoned to the bone on some BC buds.

I was fortunate enough to live in Alaska where growing and possession in your home is protected by the state constitution (all the laws they try to pass get tossed at the state supreme court still to this day) and I lived right downhill from the ski resort and skied for many many years.

I've skied some extremely technical runs totally blazed without thinking twice about it hundreds upon hundreds of time.

we the people didnt vote the bill in to let every tom ,dick ,and harry get a medical card but thats whats going on all you have to do is pay 100 to200 at any advertise clinic and anyone can get a card thats not what most of the voters voted on and we need to blood test anyone suspected of driving under the influence

It's extremely ridiculous! The United States invests trillions of dollars to combat, among other things, DUI of drugs, but the drug that causes the most accidents, the most domestic home violence cases, most of violent teen deaths and accidents, 3/4 of all college rape cases, and thousands of yearly overdoses (1/3 being underage) -- alcohol -- is one of the most widely accessible drugs. YET being legal it's still hard for teens to get (confirmed this today when my underage friend said, "Yeah [beer is harder to get than weed]"). Hell, under this current system of "prohibition" alcohol would be banned OVERNIGHT. But no.

Statistically speaking: marijuana, as a primary contributor to accidents, is about as common as green skies. The average person could drive high and be under the impairment equal to that of a blood alcohol content of 0.07-0.10. To dig even deeper, although not widely accepted, a study showed about 80% of people testing positive for pot after a wreck also had alcohol in their system. You do the math people!!!

you would be better off if i drank a fifth of whisky and drove than smoke a half a joint and drove and i know a number of people just like me so dont try and say you drive good while you are stoned because you are a liar we need to have a test like the breathalizer for marijauna and you should be under the same penealties as drunk driving also people driving under the influence of pain killers and head meds need the same punishment